LITHUANIANS (LIETUVIAI) Verified listing

The Lithuanians, the Aukštaičiai (from the eastern highlands) and the Žemaičiai of Samogitia, achieved their dynastic unity in the Middle Ages, extending their state over the Ruthenian lands after the medieval collapse of Kievan Rusʹ. Union with Poland nonetheless gradually reduced the proportion of the ethnically Lithuanian element, until the Romantic awakening founded on the renewal of historical studies, popular traditions, and the ancestral language. The Soviet period revealed the Lithuanians’ capacity for resistance. Some Lithuanian minorities remain in East Prussia (Lithuania Minor, Tilsit), Poland (Suwałki, Suvalkai), and Belarus.

The coat of arms shows a white knight, the Vytis, on a red field. The state flag of 1921 has again been official since 1989. (An alternative, which the Second World War did not allow to be made official, combined the heraldic colours white, gold, and red.)
The three-pointed emblem of Gediminas, the first national symbol of the Lithuanians, prevails as a simple and representative graphic sign.